From the essay on “Prayers.”

I KNOW not if, or no, I am deceiv’d; but since by a particular favour of the divine bounty, a certain form of prayer has been prescrib’d and dictated to us, word by word, from the mouth of God him self, I have ever been of opinion that we ought to have it in more frequent use than we yet have, and if I were worthy to advise, at the sitting down to, and rising from our tables, at our rising, and going to bed, and in every particular action wherein prayer is requir’d, I would that Christians always make use of the Lord’s Prayer, if not alone, yet at least always. The church may lengthen, or alter prayers, according to the necessity of our instruction, for I know very well that it is always the same in substance, and the same thing; but yet such a preference ought to be given to that prayer, that the people should have it continually in their mouths; for it is most certain, that all necessary petitions are comprehended in it, and that it is infinitely proper for all occasions. ’Tis the only prayer I use in all places and conditions, and what I still repeat instead of changing; whence it also happens, that I have no other by heart, but that only. It just now comes into my mind, from whence we should derive that errour of having recourse to God in all our designs and enterprises, to call him to our assistance in all sorts of affairs, and in all places where our weakness stands in need of support without considering whether the occasion be just, or otherwise, and to invoke his name and power, in what estate soever we are, or action we are engag’d in, how vicious soever: he is, indeed, our sole and only protector, and can do all things for us: but though he is pleas’d to honour us with his paternal care, he is, notwithstanding, as just as he is good and mighty, and does ofter exercise his justice than his power, and favours us according to that, and not according to our petitions. Plato, in his laws, makes three sorts of belief injurious to the gods; that there is none; that they concern not them selves about human affairs; and that they never reject or deny any thing to our vows, offerings, and sacrifices. The first of these errours (according to his opinion) did never continue rooted in any man, from his infancy to his old age; the other two, he confesses, men might be obstinate in. God’s justice and his power are inseparable, and therefore in vain we invoke his power in an unjust cause: we are to have our souls pure and clean, at that moment at least, wherein we pray to him, and purified from all vicious passions, otherwise we our selves present him the rods wherewith to chastise us. Instead of repairing any thing we have done amiss, we double the wickedness and the offence, whilst we offer to him to whom we are to sue for pardon an affection full of irreverence and hatred. Which makes me not very apt to applaud those whom I observe to be so frequent on their knees, if the actions nearest of kin to prayer do not give me some evidence of reformation….

  A man whose whole meditation is continually working upon nothing but impurity, which he knows to be so odious to Almighty God, what can he say when he comes to speak to him? He reforms, but immediately falls into a relapse. If the object of the divine justice, and the presence of his maker, did, as he pretends, strike and chastise his soul, how short soever the repentance might be, the very fear of offending that infinite majesty would so often present itself to his imagination, that he would soon see himself master of those vices that are most natural and habitual in him. But what shall we say of those who settle their whole course of life upon the profit and emolument of sins, which they know to be mortal? How many trades of vocations have we admitted and countenanc’d amongst us, whose very essence is vicious? And he that confessing himself to me, voluntarily told me that he had all his lifetime profess’d and practis’d a religion, in his opinion damnable, and contrary to that he had in his heart, only to preserve his credit, and the honor of his employments, how could his courage suffer so infamous a confession? What can men say to the divine justice upon this subject? Their repentance consisting in a visible and manifest reformation and restitution, they lose the colour of alleging it both to God and man. Are they so impudent as to sue for remission, without satisfaction, and without penitency or remorse?